Guest Post: Beyond The Class Action Fairness Act

The Class Action Fairness Act was passed by Congress in 2005; it allowed federal courts to begin hearing large class-action lawsuits and mass torts that were usually heard in state courts. Tort reform supporters, corporations and business organizations argued for the bill, stating that the law was needed to prevent the class action lawsuit abuse that was becoming commonplace in the state courts. Prior to the bill being passed, class action lawsuits in which lawyers received huge sums of money and plaintiffs were left with coupons became almost typical. Towns like Madison County, Illinois were gaining a reputation for being plaintiff friendly, and were taking cases with jurisdictional issues and awarding large sums of money.